suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
Nikita TROUFANOV & Gonzalo PADILLA: Representation can be thought of as the place of articulation between architectural practice and theory. It is precisely in such moments of change where critical thought and new theories are produced and practice is radically restructured. What makes representation a crucial field in the understanding of architecture is the mediated character of representation itself. — Stan Allen
DrawDEL Strands is an experiment in the oscillation of materiality—layering information sets and shifting focus, materialized as part drawing part model.
In this hybridized 2d and 3d presentation neither mode of communication can stand without the other. It is an artifact to push the modality of fabrication not only for presentation but for its use as a design tool.
Taking inspiration from tree morphology, the designed system merges, splits, twists and weaves, behaving like roots of a tree. Conceived as a linear system, Strands is a dynamic piece that experiences transition and transformation as it emerges from the drawing and moves through space: from thick and massive to thin and delicate, the project is a play between scale, mass, and the void around it. To obtain the desired effect, Strands was fabricated by vacuum forming the major elements and combining them with more delicate 3d printed pieces. The line drawing was laser cut into acrylic so that the light below would move through the image, projecting the colors onto the volumetric elements.
sP: What or who influenced this project?
NT & GP: Wood grain, high-speed photography, Alan Jaras’s “Refractographs.”
sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
NT & GP: Florencia Pita’s “Cronopios,” Takashi Murakami’s “Superflat,” Wolf Parade, The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem.
sP: Whose work is currently on your radar?
NT & GP: Achim Menges, Alvaro Siza, Herzog and de Meuron, Neil Denari, Preston Scott Cohen, Servo Architecture, and Wiel Arets.
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